Home Office

Harassment: Social Media

lord browne of belmont: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address threats of physical violence made through social networking sites.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government is clear that internet companies must go further and faster to tackle illegal content online.As part of our work to deliver the Serious Violence Strategy, we have established a social media action group to bring together Government, social media companies, police, and community groups to tackle violent material available via social media.The social media companies represented include Google (YouTube), Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. The group meets regularly and has received updates on the development of the new police capability to tackle gang related content online, which was announced by the Home Secretary on 17 June.On 17 June the Home Secretary announced funding of £1.38m to support a new national police capability to tackle gang related activity on social media. The new social media hub will be established within MPS, transforming the current capability and extending its reach to other forces.On 11 June 2018, representatives from Google and Facebook attended a meeting of the Serious Violence Taskforce chaired by the Home Secretary, to present the action being taken to tackle violent content online.

Harassment: Public Service

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether measures to protect the partners and children of people in public life from harassment outside their homes by demonstrators are adequate.

baroness williams of trafford: Peaceful protest is a vital part of a democratic society. However, rights to peaceful protest do not extend to violent or threatening behaviour, harassment or intimidation.The police have a range of powers to deal with such acts in line with their duties to keep the peace, to protect communities, and to prevent the commission of offences.Decisions on how these powers are deployed are an operational matter for the independent judgement of chief officers of police.

Department for Education

Schools: Cricket

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support theyare providing to encourage the playing of cricket in schools by both boys and girls.

lord agnew of oulton: The government is clear that physical education and extra-curricular sport is important for all pupils. This government seeks to foster a lifelong love of physical activity and healthy habits in young people from an early age. Sport can help all pupils to develop skills such as confidence, team work and resilience that can be carried through to adulthood. It is up to schools to decide which sports to offer to pupils.Through the primary PE and sport premium, the government has invested over £920 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. The government has doubled the premium to £320 million a year from September 2017 using revenue from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. Schools can use the premium to engage external coaches to best meet the needs of their pupils. We know that some schools engage external cricket coaches to provide specialist lessons for all pupils, which includes boys, girls and pupils with disabilities.Through the Essential Life Skills fund, the department has recently funded the national cricket charity, Chance to Shine. The funds will be used to provide extra-curricular sport to young people in Stoke-on-Trent, one of the department’s twelve Opportunity Areas. In addition, Sport England supports children and young people in England by ensuring that there is a good sports and activity offer before and after the school day. This includes investing £28 million into Satellite Clubs between the period 2017 to 2021.

Cooperative Trust Schools

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role played by co-operative schools in England; and whether they plan to support further expansion of the sector.

lord agnew of oulton: The government has not undertaken a review of the role played by co-operative schools. It is for schools themselves to consider whether they should adopt co-operative status.The department only collects information on categories of schools as set out in legislation. Co-operative schools are not a separate category but form a sub-set of foundation schools and academies, therefore information is only collected on foundation schools and academies.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Brexit

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatadditional primary legislation will be required prior to 29 March 2019 in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit.

lord callanan: We are continuing to put the legislative building blocks in place to deliver our exit, whatever the outcome of the negotiations, including in the unlikely event that a deal cannot be agreed.We will introduce further exit legislation as necessary to ensure that we have the right legal frameworks to implement our withdrawal from, and future relationship with, the European Union.

Consumers: Protection

baroness hayter of kentish town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what meetings ministers have held with consumer representatives about the UK leaving the EU.

lord callanan: Ministers and officials from across Government have a regular dialogue with stakeholders from sectors across the economy, including consumer representative groups such as Which?. This ongoing programme of engagement includes bilateral meetings, roundtables, and visits, to understand these stakeholders’ priorities and concerns regarding our EU exit.Details of Ministerial and senior official meetings on Government business are published in the Department’s Quarterly Transparency Returns, which are made publicly available on GOV.UK.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Labour Turnover

lord wigley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish staff turnover figures for the Department for Exiting the European Union, set out by quarter, since June 2016.

lord callanan: We can confirm that we do not plan to publish staff turnover figures for the Department for Exiting the European Union, set out by quarter, since June 2016. We do however already provide monthly turnover figures to the National Audit Office which are published in their reports.